Traditionally, handmade fabric rod pockets, also called “quilt sleeves,” are attached to the back top edge of a quilt or wall hanging, and are the most popular way to allow the quilt or wall hanging to be hung for display. Such quilt sleeves are sized large enough to accommodate the rod to be used passing through an interior thereof. An approximately three inch to four inch tall quilt sleeve is a standard requirement on all quilts to be displayed in quilt shows, quilt guilds, and quilt competitions worldwide.
Handmade quilt sleeves consist of either a flat one-sided piece of fabric, or, the more desirable, hand constructed tubular sleeve of fabric attached to the reverse top edge of a quilt or wall hanging. Quilt sleeves of a tubular shape are desirable in that the rod may be inserted through the sleeve without touching the original quilt or wall hanging, eliminating the possibility of damage to the original quilt or wall hanging fabric. The rod only touches the inside of the quilt sleeve.
Such standard quilt sleeves tend to cause an unsightly bulge along the top edge of the front of the quilt or other wall hanging. Furthermore, to ensure that the tube size is accommodated, consideration must be made during construction to include enough fabric for the seam allowance and other sizing considerations. Hence, hand construction of such quilt sleeves is time consuming and inconvenient.